Sep 29 2007
The Medium of the Weaver
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This is usually how my yarn arrives. In white or natural cones (or skeins). To your average non-textile type person it must seem drab, colourless and uninteresting, but for a weaver it is a cone of potential energy. This is the medium of the Weaver, much like paint or charcoal are to an artist. This collection is a mix of different wools and crepes with some very fine (50/2) bamboo yarn shown. Sometimes a yarn will ’speak’ to me and the bamboo seems to be saying "double weave" – at least I hope I understand it’s tactile, sensual language. I’ve also added photos of how I am using a conventional temple on my current cloth. As you can see in the first photo the wooden temple has a ‘nasty’ looking run of spikes underneath it which pierce and grab the cloth to stretch it widthways to its full width. This helps to ensure that the beat on the cloth at the fell is even and prevents selvedge threads breaking all the time if this is a problem – and it was in my case. This type of temple slows up the weaving process, but I didn’t have to replace any broken threads repeatedly. This warp has given me loads of frustration but it was worth persevering with and I’ve nearly woven it all off. More photos soon as I’m on a couple of weeks leave – time for turning drab cones of yarn into exquisite textiles…or perhaps just dreaming about it! |
| The medium of the Weaver | |
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| 50/2 Bamboo yarn ’speaking’ to me about woven structure. | |
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| The nasty spikes on the bottom of the temple | |
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| Engaging the spikes into the cloth at each selvedge | |
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| Locking down the temple ready to weave again. | |
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It looks amazing. Do you always dye your own colors?
Very nice!
It is a beautiful fabric! Sorry about the broken threads, how they used to drive me crazy. Double cloth. i love double cloth I can’t wait to see it.
The fabric is gorgeous! I’m sorry to hear it’s been a pain. Thanks for the pix of the temple. I got two with my loom, but have yet to give them a try. I’m afraid they might be a bit awkward to get used to.
I LOVE that warp! Did you manipulate the warp while warping (poor description) to achieve the blocks of white or did you tie resists (ikat style). The piece is stunning.
Gorgeous textiles. Is the yarn Australian or from elsewhere.
Thanks for all your generous comments. The yarn is from the Yarn Association in Denmark so it is very special despite its appearance. I usually dye most of my own yarn as there isn’t a wide choice of colours available in Australia – so this limitation invites me to dye my own.
Hi, Kaz,
Love the ikat piece! And I’d love to know where you found 50/2 bamboo. I’ve not seen anything but knitting weight, or the kind that’s the equivalent of 10/2 cotton.
Cheers – Sandra